Delaware House Bill 417 (Prior Session Legislation)

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Completed Legislative Action
Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 7-1)
Status: Passed on October 14 2022 - 100% progression
Action: 2022-10-14 - Signed by Governor
Text: Latest bill text (Draft #1) [HTML]

In cases where the Family Court finds that there are sufficient grounds to order the removal of a child from their home and the Family Court orders custody of the child to the Division of Family Service (DFS), DFS often partners with law enforcement to enforce the order. There have been rare cases where a parent or legal guardian refuses to respond to DFS and law enforcements attempts to enforce the order to take custody of the child, resulting in uncertainty and a heightened concern for the childs safety. Currently, it is unclear under the Delaware Code whether law enforcement is authorized to enter private property to enforce a Family Court custody order, even after all other avenues and strategies have been exhausted by DFS and law enforcement.

An Act To Amend Titles 10, 13, 16 And 29 Of The Delaware Code Relating To Enforcement Of Family Court Custody Orders.

Rep. Krista Griffith [D]	Sen. Kyle Gay [D]	Sen. Bruce Ennis [D]	Rep. Paul Baumbach [D]
Rep. Debra Heffernan [D]	Rep. Valerie Longhurst [D]	Rep. Stephen Smyk [R]	Rep. Kimberly Williams [D]

2022-06-29 - Senate - Senate Third Reading (Y: 20 N: 1 NV: 0 Abs: 0) [PASS]
2022-06-07 - House - House Third Reading (Y: 37 N: 0 NV: 0 Abs: 4) [PASS]

Date	Chamber	Action
2022-10-14		Signed by Governor
2022-06-29		Passed By Senate. Votes: 20 YES 1 NO
2022-06-22		Reported Out of Committee (Judiciary) in Senate with 4 On Its Merits
2022-06-07		Assigned to Judiciary Committee in Senate
2022-06-07		Passed By House. Votes: 37 YES 4 ABSENT
2022-05-17		Reported Out of Committee (Judiciary) in House with 4 Favorable, 4 On Its Merits
2022-05-10		Introduced and Assigned to Judiciary Committee in House

Type	Source
Summary	https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=109486
Text	https://legis.delaware.gov/json/BillDetail/GenerateHtmlDocument?legislationId=109486&legislationTypeId=1&docTypeId=2&legislationName=HB417
Roll Call	https://legis.delaware.gov/json/RollCall/GetRollCallVoteByRollCallId#53331
Roll Call	https://legis.delaware.gov/json/RollCall/GetRollCallVoteByRollCallId#53797